Here I Go Again
by thejilyship
Summary: Jily!MammaMia AU After graduating from university, Lily decides to give into her wanderlust and just go wherever she wants. Along the way, she meets three very interesting blokes and, dot, dot, dot One-Shot


**AN: Indulge me. I don't know how this happened so fast, or why I decided to post something today when I was supposed to be taking the weekend off, but I hope that someone likes this nonsense that is mostly fluff.**

 **You know how much I like reviews**

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 **Chapter One: I Heard About You Before**

 _ **Waterloo**_

Lily had the itch of wanderlust in her veins since she was very little. It had always drove her to the gardens or the forest or the lake or the ocean, but she'd still done things the way she was meant to do. She finished secondary and then went on to graduate from uni, but when faced with choosing a path in the world that lay before her, the itch got to be too much to stand and she'd shoved a few essentials into a bag that was impossible to fit one's life in, bought a plane ticket to France and set herself free.

And she hadn't stopped smiling since. She felt like she was glowing, like she'd swallowed part of the sun and it was going to burst out of her at any moment.

She danced down the streets of France, happy and carefree, though aware that she would soon need to find somewhere to stay for the night. So she pulled her floppy sunhat a bit lower over her eyes and looked around the street before her. It wasn't as touristy as it could have been, and that meant it was much quieter.

She saw a small hotel nearby and peeked her head in, finding the desk was empty. One might have thought that was bad luck, especially after she rang the bell on the counter – _twice_ – and still received no answer. But she had little by way of money, and was hoping for a situation like this to arise. She set her things down near the end of the small counter and stepped behind, looking over the room keys that hung on the wall. She took her hat off and played with the brim with her fingertips. She'd have her pick of rooms by the looks of it. Without someone to run the front desk, they didn't have means to book the hotel. There were only a few keys missing from the wall.

"Excuse me?" Lily stood up straighter, worried that she'd been caught, but when she spun around, a man in a robe was standing on a nearby staircase, his brow pressed together, and Lily surmised that he was a either a guest or this was a very poorly run hotel indeed. Either way, she didn't seem to be in danger of getting into trouble just yet. She set the hat down and tried to decide how she should play this.

"Yes?" She asked, putting her palms flat against the counter.

The man went on to try and speak to her in French, but it was very obvious that he wasn't fluent in the language because it all tumbled out of his mouth clumsily. He went back to repeat a few things, and while Lily had taken French for four years in secondary and visited her great aunt in France every summer until she was thirteen, she had no clue what it was that he was trying to tell her.

"I'm sorry," She said, giving him a brilliant smile. "But I don't know what you're asking of me."

"I apologize," The man said, pulling his robe tighter against him and then stuffing his hands into his pockets. He started in French again and then paused and looked up at her. "You speak English?"

"And you don't speak French, how lucky is that?" She chuckled and then turned back to look at the keys.

"You don't work here, do you?" His voice was closer now. Lily snagged a key with a lime green chain and looped it around her middle finger before she turned around to face him again, her smile still big across her face.

"I don't."

"I should call the cops then." He eyed the phone on the counter and Lily reached over to put her hand on top of it, though he made no reach for it and she didn't think he would.

"I don't think you should."

"They wouldn't understand me anyway." He grinned at her and Lily realized how beautiful he was. Men weren't normally beautiful, not in this soft way. His eyes were a muted green, his hair a sandy blonde, and his smile pointed perfectly at the corners. It didn't have her weak at the knees, but she wouldn't mind looking at him for a while. Besides, weak knees were for romance novels and that wasn't what she was looking for.

"Your French is horrendous. What are you here for?"

"We could talk about it over lunch?" He suggested, and Lily's smile grew a bit larger. His suggestion seemed to have surprised him more than it surprised her though, and his brow hitched up his forehead. "If you'd like, anyway. I'm Remus, by the way and I don't normally just ask girls out like that."

"I _would_ like that. And I'm Lily, and I don't mind that you asked me out before giving me your name. Just let me put my things in my stolen room. Are you going to wear that?" She asked, stepping out from behind the counter and pointing at his robe that stopped just above his knees. It was too easy to tease him, especially with how red his ears were going.

He looked down, seemingly just remembering that he was wearing it. "Fucking-" He shook his head. "I'll put some pants on."

"I wouldn't mind if you wore that. Only wondered if I should dress to match." She teased, picking her hat up off the counter and sauntering over to the stairs.

She looked over her shoulder to see the blush staining his cheeks get a shade darker. She imagined this was because he was now picturing a scenario where she would wear a robe in front of him. She winked, and he cleared his throat. "I'll put on some pants." He repeated.

Lily didn't know if it was a side effect of the wanderlust, the sunshine that she seemed to have swallowed, or the points of his smile that had her thinking that he might not need to keep his pants on for too long.

After lunch they headed back to the hotel and she found her things outside on the street, clearly she'd been caught and thrown out of the room she'd managed to snag earlier. His ears were only slightly red as he suggested that she stay the night with him.

"Well that's very forward for a bloke that claims not to ask girls out so soon after meeting them." Lily teased, despite having already decided that she was up for as much as he was willing to offer. That smile of his was definitely growing on her.

"Do you believe in destiny, Lily?" He asked, suddenly quite somber in his disposition. She was afraid that maybe she'd taken the teasing too far, but his question didn't seem to suggest that, only that his head was somewhere entirely different than hers.

"Destiny? I'd like to." She grinned. "I'm trying to find mine."

"I think we were supposed to meet today. I think we're supposed to spend this time together- which sounds like some line, but I promise you that it's not." He said the last part quickly and Lily pressed her lips together to show him that she didn't have plans to interrupt him. "I just- I've never felt like this about someone before, and I know that you're leaving tomorrow and that should make me want to- it should make me want- I don't know. I can't think straight. I just know that I want to spend the night with you."

He was endearing and awkward in his phrasing, but it was a romantic notion. If he'd been anyone else, she would have thought they were lines. _Meant to be for one night only._ But he didn't seem the type and his ears were a brilliant shade of red. "Well then," She reached out and wove her fingers through his. "If we've only got one night together, then we better make it count." His gulp was audible, and it only made Lily's smile wider. She leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek. "Don't you think?" Her lips were hovering dangerously close to his.

He nodded, a rather jerky motion but then his lips were on hers and she forgot all about teasing him. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him close.

They headed back up to the room and-

 _dot, dot, dot_

 _ **Why Did it Have to be Me?**_

She didn't stay in France. She had a boat ticket to get her to Greece, and despite a brilliant night spent in Remus' room where he had indeed taken off his pants and she had put his robe on just for circularity, she kissed him goodbye and breezed through the city toward the dock feeling far lighter than she'd ever felt back in London.

She was musing over how she felt about her first one-night stand- well not her first but her first in a while- when she heard the foghorn of the boat she was meant to get on and started sprinting, her tryst momentarily forgotten as she slammed her ticked and passport onto the desk of a frazzled looking employee. "I'm in a bit of a rush," She said, pulling her things closer to her and checking to make sure that she still had everything. Her suitcase, her bag and her hat. That was all she had.

"That doesn't mean that I can help you any faster." He scoffed, unaware or uncaring that the boat was pulling up it's anchor as they spoke. She had only seconds really to start running toward the boat. "Please, sir."

He glowered at her and picked up her passport. "Your hair is shorter." He remarked, looking up at her and then back at her photo. Lily blinked at him and then looked at the boat.

"Yes, it is shorter now." She nodded. "Am I good to go?"

"I liked it better longer." He said, and then pulled out his stamp. Lily held back the sharp barb that wanted to be hurled in his direction, but she had a boat to catch. She clumsily tucked the passport back into her jean shorts and put the ticket in her mouth as she started racing down the dock. Her suitcase started to come unzipped as she ran, and she could tell that something was falling out of it, but her clothes were replaceable, and she didn't want to miss her boat. Something in her knew that she needed to get to this island.

"Wait!" She called, the word mangled by the ticket in her mouth. But the boat had already pulled away anyway and it was too late for her to get on. She stopped running and let her arms fall to her sides, her suitcase almost opened completely now and her bag fell to the ground without the momentum of her running keeping it in the air. "Well shite," She muttered, taking the ticket out of her mouth and then she turned around to get her things that she'd dropped.

"Someone is having quite a day," She looked up into the slate gray eyes of a man made of angles. He was holding the top to one of her bikinis and a few other articles of clothing. He seemed most interested in the bikini top however. She quirked a brow and let her suitcase drop to the ground. "I on the other hand have fallen into a piece of luck. Look at what I've found!" He looked gleeful and she couldn't help but smile at him.

"I don't think that would suit you," His response was to hold the yellow scraps of fabric over his chest and tilt his head.

"Are you sure, love? I think I'd look quite stunning in this number."

"I think you'd find yourself stunning in anything at all." She said, holding her hand out to take back the clothes. He laughed at that, a bright laugh that came from the middle of his belly. Lily liked laughs best when they came from your belly, that meant they were real and full.

"I'm sorry you missed your boat. There will be another tomorrow though."

"Well, thank you." She said, bending over to stuff her clothes back into her bag and then pulled the zipper all the way shut. She then resituated her hat and watched this arrogant man of angles and belly laughs hop onto a nearby sailboat.

She was immediately struck with a thought, and the wanderlust must be blamed for this thought since Lily had never before asked anyone for a favor that included more than a borrowed pencil.

"However," She drew his attention back to her and ran a hand through her hair for good measure. "I don't need to know when the next boat leaves. What I need is a man with a boat. A man-"

"Of impeccable good looks, yes?"

"Passable looks would do." She grinned. "But a man with a boat and a few days-"

"A few days of free time to sail you wherever it is that you're trying to get?"

"Exactly." She grinned, holding tightly to her suitcase as the weight of what she was asking of him hit her. He wasn't going to say yes. Of course he wasn't going to say yes.

"I do happen to have a few days of free time ahead of me." He grinned, and it was a mischievous, troublesome grin. It promised broken hearts and sleepless nights. "It's too bad I don't have a boat." Lily narrowed her eyes and looked at the boat that he was on. "Just jumped on here to impress you."

Lily sighed and then offered him another smile. "Well alright then. I guess that I'll-"

"I'm only joking," He interrupted her and then laughed, waving her to jump on. "Come on. I've got a few days and you're passably attractive." She pressed her lips together and jumped down onto the deck, not quite believing that he'd agreed so readily.

"I hope you're not expecting me to help. I know absolutely nothing about sailboats."

"I'm fit to operate on my own." He assured her. "I'll be racing her next week on my own."

"Well that sounds terribly exciting," And she really was impressed. Sailboat racing in the ocean with the sun as your only companion sounded as good a way as any to travel the world.

He nodded and then led her down to the cabin. "There are two beds down here, but I only need one to sleep in so…" He trailed off and motioned to the heap of _stuff_ that was stacked on the other one. When Lily looked back at him she could see the vague insinuation written all over his face.

"How convenient." She set her suitcase down and tossed her hat on top of the pile of stuff.

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about." He grinned, though it was that same mischievous, troublesome grin from before. Lily gave herself a moment to really look at him, just a moment was all she needed to deduce that he didn't look like he belonged on a sailboat, unless that sailboat was on the cover of vogue. His hair was long and dark, and hap hazardously pulled back into a plait of sorts. It was messy but purposefully so. His t-shirt clung just a bit too tightly to his broad shoulders and biceps. But when she noticed that he was flexing, she looked back up into his eyes.

"What do you do when you're not on a boat?" She asked. "Also, I'll be needing your name."

"When I'm not on a boat, I'll be doing what I have to so that I can get back on my boat." He grinned. "And I think you'll be needing to give me something in exchange for my name."

"Something like what? My name perhaps?"

"That's too easy, though I'll listen if you'd like to tell me what it is." He tucked a lock of hair back behind his ear and Lily had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

"My name is Lily." She said and then turned on her heel to head back up toward the deck. "And I'm afraid that's all you'll be getting from me."

"The view of you walking away is quite a gift as well," She gasped and turned with her brows raised.

"You," She started, but there was that grin of his again and she couldn't help but smile herself. "Are absolute trouble."

"Most definitely." He agreed, taking a few steps closer to her and reached out a hand. His fingers wrapped around the fringe of her shirt and she watched him closely as he tilted his head up to look at her. And then, with a voice that was almost tender, "But I get the feeling that you are too."

"Oh." She laughed and shook her head. "You're one of _those_ men." She laughed again and raced up the stairs. He followed her of course.

"One of _those_ men? I take offence to that." He put a hand over his heart, but he couldn't hide his smile either.

"Why? You don't know what kind of men I'm talking about."

"The tone you used gives me all the indication I need to be offended. But please, insult me properly."

Lily laughed again and ran a hand through her hair. The salty air was making it more wild than usual. It fell in thick, round curls and then wind had made combing her fingers through it impossible. "There are two types of seducers when you get down to it." She tried to borrow his grin, narrowing her eyes slightly as she swung herself around the mast in the middle of the boat.

"Only two?"

"Only two. The first type is the worst because they hate women and women mean nothing to them." She paused waiting for him to deny being this type of person, but he waited for her to go on. "The second type, well they fall in love almost every night," She got closer to him and his eyes were glancing back and forth between her eyes and her mouth. "Only to forget the feeling in the morning."

He laughed, right and proper again, all the way from his belly. He threw his head back and Lily knew that she could love him for a night if she let herself. He'd be easy to love. "It's not my fault that they always leave me, Lily. How am I supposed to go on, but to forget?"

"Oh yes," She chuckled. "Woe is you. They always leave- and if they don't then you quickly snatch your trousers from their floor and make your escape."

"My name is Sirius Black." He said, holding out his hand toward her as though she hadn't just pegged him as the kind of bloke to put literal notches in his bedpost. She shook her head and reached out to take his hand.

"It's lovely to meet you, Sirius Black. Are you going to fall for me tonight?"

"I'm afraid that I already have," His voice did that thing where it got all soft again. And she couldn't believe how sincere he sounded. "Shall I sing you a sonnet or two to ensure that the feeling is mutual?"

She laughed and bit her bottom lip, pulling her hand back now. "Just keep making me laugh, Sirius. And we'll see which bed I decide to sleep in tonight."

And he did make her laugh for the rest of the afternoon. And by the time the sun was starting to sink below the horizon, her cheeks were hurting from all the smiling she'd been doing and she felt warm and comfortable when he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. "I'm going to remember you, aren't I? When I'm old and grey and thinking about how much fun I had in my youth, I'm going to remember this day."

She peeked up at him, her arms slipping around his waist. "Fondly and often." She grinned. She kissed him first, though it felt like that had been his plan all along. But it wasn't long before the kiss had turned into more than a kiss and then-

 _dot, dot, dot_

 _ **Andante, Andante**_

 _ **Or**_

 _ **Knowing Me, Knowing You**_

Sirius had warned her of a storm when she got off his boat, but she'd assured him that she would be fine if it rained and wished him good luck and safe travels as he started pulling at different ropes on the boat. The smile he gave her as his boat started sailing away from the island had a melancholic look to it and Lily allowed herself to miss him for just a moment. Belly laughs and pointed smiles. She wondered who she'd meet here on this island. Though she had a feeling that she was done with one-night stands for a while. Two in as many days was wildly unlike her, though she wouldn't have done it any differently if given the chance.

Trysts in love weren't what was on her mind now however, because she was on a Grecian island and the itch in her veins started to subside as she explored. For the first time in what seemed like forever, she felt content. She felt _at home._ And the thought of finally finding somewhere she belonged had her giddy and dancing around the abandoned farmhouse that she'd found.

The building hadn't been used in years, but it had good bones and Lily could see all the potential that was hidden under the years of neglect. She spun around at the top of an old staircase, the kind that had a banister that was made for sliding and decided to perch herself up on the railing and let herself go.

Everything was going well and good until the entire staircase gave out beneath her and she fell into a pile of snapped wood and crumbling drywall. It wasn't until she tried to stand that she realized her ankle was throbbing. "Damn it," She shouted, not feeling the need to keep her profanity quiet since she'd yet to see anyone at all on the island.

"Are you hurt?" She heard someone call and she almost fell over again in surprise. She hadn't seen anyone, had she? Was this place haunted? Was a ghost talking to her just now?

Had she hit her head?

A man with specks and insanely messy hair stepped through a doorway in front of her. He looked concerned that she was seriously injured, and she felt her heart jump into her throat.

 _Do you believe in destiny?_

 _I'm going to remember you, aren't I?_

Her face went red and she looked down at her ankle. "I didn't think the stairs would fall out from under me." She motioned to the stairs and he let out a low whistle. "I think I twisted my ankle."

"You're lucky that's all you did." He said, "Here, I can help you back to town. We can get some ice on it." He walked over and pulled one of her arms around his shoulders so that she could put her weight on him. Lily knew that he was only trying to be helpful, but the close proximity made her heart that was still residing in her throat, beat fast and she wondered if he could hear it. If he was thinking about destiny and future broken hearts.

He didn't appear to be smitten.

But that was no matter. If the last couple of days had taught her anything, it was that she could be very appealing to the opposite gender when she wished to be. Even when she didn't wish to be if she was being honest. She could turn his eye too, she had no doubt.

And then she saw that his ride back to town was a moped and she realized that she was going to get to sit behind him with her arms wrapped around his waist and she smiled up at him. "So what are you doing in an abandoned farm house on a Grecian island?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He looked at her and grinned. This smile, unlike the other two she's seen the previous couple of days, did make her go a bit weak at the knees. However her injured ankle already had him holding her up and so he was none the wiser.

"I'm exploring," She whispered, as though it was some kind of secret.

"Well so was I," He started smiling again, but then cleared his throat and looked back at his moped. "Luckily we were exploring the same place, otherwise I wouldn't have been around to help you."

"I don't think I'm really one to believe in luck."

"No? Then what do you think it was, if not luck that had me passing by as you yelled out in pain?"

She was sure that she would turn redder than Remus had if she blurted out the word 'Destiny' or 'Fate.' So, she just smiled at him and shrugged. "I don't know, but I think we're going to work it out together."

He looked a bit frozen in place when she said that, which had her immensely grateful that she'd decided against using the heavier words. "How far is town from here?"

He cleared his throat and then opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He closed it and then opened it again.

"My name is Lily, by the way. I keep forgetting to start conversations with my name." She put her free hand on the back of his moped and the slid her arm from around his shoulders and hobbled over.

He still looked dazed and confused and Lily didn't know why. But then he shook his head and his smile was back. "I'm James Potter and town is only a five-minute ride or so."

"Lovely." She grinned and then let him help her onto the seat. He sat down in front of her and she did as she planned and wrapped her arms around his middle and rested her cheek against his back.

He was right, the ride to town was short, and he helped her into a café that had a live band, despite the lack of people that she'd seen. She was completely enthralled by them and James asked the elderly woman behind the counter for some ice and then helped her get her foot up on a chair all while she sat and watched the band.

"This is glorious." Lily laughed and looked over at James, who was seated on the very edge of his chair. "I don't think I'm ever going to leave this island."

"It is lovely here, isn't it?" He grinned. "Are you good here?" He asked, and Lily felt her stomach drop to the floor.

"What do you mean?" She asked, narrowing her brow and hoping that playing dumb would work.

"I mean I've got to head out now and I don't want to leave you somewhere you're not comfortable." Playing dumb had not worked so she tried a dazzling smile.

"Oh I'm quite comfortable anywhere. Thank you so much for coming to my rescue."

"I was just doing what anyone would have done," He said, and she tried to turn up the dazzle in her smile just a bit more.

"How long are you on the island?" She asked, as he started to stand up. He paused and sat back down.

"For another week or so." He said and then narrowed his brow. She didn't know why he'd done that.

"Perfect. So I'll get to see you again before you leave."

"I don't know-"

"Tomorrow. We should have lunch here tomorrow. When my ankle is healed and I'm not an invalid. You can tell me how you ended up on this island and why you were exploring and anything else you want to tell me." She was being obvious here, and he didn't seem to be into her. She should have let him go without a fight, but she couldn't. Something in her couldn't watch him walk away from her without knowing that she was going to get to see him again.

"It's not much of a story," He ran a hand through his hair and gave her a tentative smile. "I've got life lined up for me at home. Just needed a bit of a break before I let it all click together."

"I understand that."

"Is that why you're here too? You don't look like the kind of girl who's got a banking job lined up at home."

"Oh no. I'm not." She laughed, surprised to hear that he did. "I was serious when I said that I might stay here. I've been doing what I should my entire life and I've decided that I'm done with that. I'm going to do whatever I want now." His smile came easier now.

"Well that sounds absolutely inspired and incredibly courageous." Lily felt her cheeks blush and she looked down to fiddle with the bag of ice on her ankle. She's only seen the look of awe he was giving her for a moment, but it had her heart full and hopeful.

"Oh I don't know about that. I think it's brave to take on a life you know that you won't be happy in for the happiness of others. Stupid, but brave. It's freeing to do whatever strikes your fancy." She looked back at him and she couldn't read the look he was giving her.

"How about dinner?" He asked. "Tonight? Hobbled or not." She laughed and nodded her head, the hopeful feeling in her heart growing and stretching.

"That sounds lovely."

It didn't take longer than a couple of hours for her to realize that she was completely in love with this man. And it didn't take long for her ankle to feel better either. So, they left the café and started walking around the rocky shores that overlooked the water. The sun started to get lower and lower and they still hadn't run out of things to talk about.

Lily told him about her mum and how absent she'd been in Lily's life since her dad had passed. He told her about his parents and their expectations for how his life should go. They talked about the places that they'd been and the places that they still wanted to go. Lily told him about how beautiful she thought the farmhouse could be and he told her that he agreed. He pulled out his camera and told her that she was going to love the prints when he finished with them because that's why he'd been out there, he'd been taking pictures of the building. Then he took some pictures of her laughing with the setting sun's red light glowing in her hair.

She wanted to see those pictures too, because she was sure that her hair wasn't the only thing that was glowing.

"You should stay here on the island with me." She blurted out after she'd made him laugh about something she'd learned about sea turtles. "I know that sounds crazy and impossible and a million other things but…" She looked up at him and tried to laugh it off as a joke when she saw the look on his face. His smile was dropping off his face in slow motion.

"It's not crazy." He said and that made her laughter die in her throat. "I mean it is, but it isn't." He let his camera hang around his neck now and reached out to her and pulled her close. He rested his forehead against hers for a moment and closed his eyes. She couldn't work out how to breath properly and tried to let the moment sink it as her heart beat wildly in her chest.

 _Destiny._

It sure felt like it when he kissed her.

It wasn't like the kisses she'd shared with Remus or Sirius. It wasn't light and fun and meaningless in the grand scheme of things. This meant something heavy and big and made her toes curl in anticipation of everything that she was certain would follow. There was no need to rush things because she felt like they had time, she felt like they had all the time in the world on this island. Perhaps time didn't really exist here, and they could spend forever wrapped up in one another.

Everything around them seemed to have slowed down and she could tell when he stopped holding back for whatever reasons that he had. They eventually got back to the stone house he'd been staying at, stopping frequently to give another kiss or because James wanted to take another picture of her. She couldn't picture him in a suit and tie working at a bank. He'd suffocate in that life. He belonged here. She belonged here.

They belonged together.

When the door to the stone house was closed again his lips found her neck and her hands slipped under his t-shirt and-

 _dot, dot, dot_

He was packing his bags when she woke up the next morning and she felt the first crack her in heart form. "What are you doing, love?" She asked, pushing herself up so that she was sitting. She smiled at him despite the ugly feeling she had about what it was that he was doing. His t-shirt clung to her skin and she pushed her hair back.

"I've got to go while I still can." He said quietly. He wasn't looking at her and so Lily couldn't pretend that he was planning to go back home to say goodbye to his family and set things right so that he could come here properly. She couldn't pretend that he meant anything other than what he did. He was leaving her for his perfectly lined up life.

"You don't." She was on her knees now, edging closer to him as one would slowly approach a wild animal. Frightened that any sudden movement would send him running. "You don't have to go, James."

He looked up at her for only a moment and then back at his bag. "I do have to go. I can't just drop my entire life and move to an island with someone that I've only just met. People don't do things like that." He shook his head.

"You said that you still had a week-"

"I won't be able to go home if I stay with you for a week." His smile was forlorn, despondent and Lily's heart cracked again.

"Don't say things like that when you're leaving." Her tone was bitter now. He looked up.

"Don't be like that." He said. "We've only just met, and I told you that I had a life waiting for me at home."

She lay back in the bed and took a deep breath. "You said that it wasn't crazy." And then she rolled out of the bed and started toward the door. He called after her, but she didn't turn around. She let herself be angry, because that was always much easier than being sad.

 _ **Honey, Honey**_

 _ **18 years later**_

Grace Evans had been told her entire life that she looked exactly like her mother. She had red hair and green, almond shaped eyes. She was on the shorter side, though she had grown taller than her mother recently and was having a good time lording it over her. She wasn't nearly as pale, and was significantly more freckled, but there was no doubting that Grace was Lily's daughter through and through.

That didn't mean that she wasn't curious about who her father was though.

Her eighteenth birthday was next week, and she was trying to make big life decisions even though she didn't know the first things about what she wanted out of life. It was truly unfair that people her age were meant to make decisions that would shape the rest of their lives when they were usually so stupid and pliable; and she included herself in that.

She held her bag a bit tighter as she made her way through the lobby of her mother's hotel. A building that had once been a rundown shack, gifted to her by an elderly woman that ran the café in town. Grace would have been astonished by the kindness that people always showed her mother had it not been happening for Graces' entire life. Their kindness had trickled down to her as well and had left her light and carefree for all her life.

"What have you got there, my darling daughter?" Lily was behind the counter as she could often be found, and while they lived quite happy-go-lucky on this island that they called home, Grace had never been able to sneak anything past her before. Which is why she had a failsafe in her bag, should her mother ask. Her failsafe was not to be offered up.

"I thought you were in town." Grace said, and then cursed herself for saying the wrong thing.

"I'm not in town." Her mother gave her a grin that let Grace know that Lily knew she was up to something. "What have you got?" She repeated. Grace realized that had she just answered right away, Lily would have no reason to believe that she was up to anything.

"Invitations for my birthday party." She said, trying her best not to sound suspicious. But another side-effect of living on the island and never having to sneak around meant that she didn't know how to not sound suspicious when she was doing something that she shouldn't. She ended up sounding quite suspicious.

"Oh?" Lily's brow was raised, and Grace mirrored her expression, not wanting to give anything up unless she was asked to directly.

"Yes." She nodded.

"And who are you inviting that I'm not going to like?"

"I'm fairly sure that you're going to like everyone that I invite. Or that you liked them at some point." She amended, unable to lie even as she omitted very important facts.

"You're inviting my mum, aren't you?"

"You love, grandma." Grace said sharply. "Besides, she's the only grandparent that I have, and I want her here." This was her failsafe. Lily held out her hand and waited for Grace to deposit the envelop.

"She won't come, even if you invite her, love. It's easier for everyone if she doesn't have to come up with an excuse." Grace sighed, because even though this was her failsafe, she had been planning on sending her grandmother an invitation if she had been able to sneak properly.

She reached into her bag and made a show of digging around a bit, as though the invitation for her grandmother hadn't been purposefully set on top. "Fine." She snapped, handing it over. "But it's my party and I feel as though I should get to invite whomever I wish."

"You're not eighteen yet. You still have to listen to me for another few weeks here." Grace rolled her eyes and made quick work of rushing from the hotel and down the dirt road that led to the boats and the only outgoing mailbox on the island.

She was filled with giddy nervousness that always came to her when she was doing something that she knew her mother wouldn't really want her to do. Rules had been fast and loose throughout her childhood, but that didn't mean that she didn't know when she was doing something- well it wasn't wrong. Every young girl deserved the chance to meet their father. Grace had to keep reminding herself of that. She wasn't doing anything wrong. She shouldn't feel guilty.

It wasn't her fault that he mother didn't know who he was. Nor was it her fault that she'd happened upon her mother's diary and read it all.

Well alright, the last one might be a bit her fault.

She reached the mailbox that was set to be emptied within the hour and dumped all but three of the invitations in unceremoniously.

She looked at the name on the first envelope. _Remus Lupin._ It could be him, the boy with pointy smile and soft eyes who blushed a lot. She pushed it into the mailbox.

 _Sirius Black,_ the bloke who laughed from deep in his belly and belonged on the cover of vogue. A second envelope fell into the box.

 _James Potter._ There had been a lot of his entry scribbled out. But Grace had managed to make out the phrase ' _love of my life.'_ She was most nervous about inviting him, but that wasn't because she thought he was her father more than she thought the other two might be, it was because she thought that he had done something to hurt her mother and she didn't want to cause her anymore pain.

Grace had been shocked when she found the diary. Her mother, who never had time for men in her life, had quite the tale to tell about the month after she graduated from University. Suddenly her claims that she didn't know who Graces' father was had made sense.

The rest of the diary didn't contain any other men, and so Grace knew that it had to be one of these three. She pushed the last remaining envelope into the mailbox and took a deep breath.

She would meet her father soon.

Whether or not her mother was ready to face the three candidates was something else entirely.


End file.
